April Fools ~ The Joke Is On Us!

On April 1st I posted this on Facebook:

It's spring, so time for the Darts to be moving again. Can anybody guess where to this time??

On April 2nd I posted this:

April Fools! We are NOT moving! I left a comment yesterday, but not everyone saw it. We got calls and texts all evening long. Because everyone knows we are crazy enough to do something like that:)

It really was an April Fools joke! However, sending that out into the universe apparently made it become true. About a week after that post Greg got a call from USU Eastern, the school we previously were at. They offered him a job as Vice Chancellor and after several days of praying and considering, we decided it is what we should do. So we are moving back to Price, Utah! Life is such a roller coaster and we are hanging on for the ride with all our might.

We have had a great experience here in Ohio and I honestly don't feel ready to leave. However, I am excited to see our friends and family in Utah. Part of the deal of moving is that I get to visit my family in Alaska again this summer too. The kids are excited to see their cousins! 

The hardest part of moving is leaving the friends we make. Zanesville is full of kind and generous people. The kids have had amazing school teachers this year. We love our church family here! Our lovely house really feels like home and we are sad to say goodbye. I think I could create a blog series on moving tips, but that will have to wait for another day. I have to get packing!

Collage Wall

Back in November, I posted this picture on Facebook asking for help on what to do with this wall:

These photos aren't the best quality being snapped with my phone rather than a camera and in not the best lighting, but you get the idea. We have a long rectangular family room and a big wall that I wanted to decorate somehow with some family pictures, but didn't really know what I wanted. I searched Pinterest for a lot of ideas and just thought about it for a few months. I decided I didn't want to spend a lot of money on it and would make most of the frames and such myself. I wanted a large D (for Dart of course!) and fun colors. I bought some mdf, free handed a D on it and cut it out with a jigsaw. It was my first time ever using my jigsaw and it was very rough and needed a bit of sanding. It isn't perfect, but I made it and I like it. I bought some spray paint in fun colors and decided it would be yellow:)

FYI, spray paint doesn't stick so well to raw edges of mdf. I used a whole can of spray paint trying to get it all yellow. After that didn't work, I bought a can of spray primer (and another can of yellow). One coat of primer and two coats of yellow it looked even and covered and was just what I had envisioned.

I had thought I would make a variety of frame types and sizes and sort of make a random display. I was going to use some leftover bead-board and wood scraps to make at least 4 frames for my kids photos. I also REALLY wanted to make some chunky frames in interesting shapes. I didn't really have the confidence that I could make them look like they did in my head though:) Last week I was blessed by a friend and had 1 hour to myself with no children and so I stopped into Hobby Lobby to browse. I was so super excited to find some chunky frames in interesting shapes, but they looked this:

The 8x10 frames were originally priced $29.99, but you can often purchase things at Hobby Lobby for 50% off. These frames had been marked down so many times, they were almost giving them away at $3. They were in great condition, just not the prettiest floral print on them. I bought the entire stock. I didn't know still what I wanted to do with them exactly, but with the cost of wood to make all the frames, plus drawing out shapes, cutting, sanding, etc. It seemed too good to pass up.  

On our recent vacation, we had a professional photographer take family pictures of us and we had a bunch of 8x10 prints from our session that I decided to use. I also purchased 11x14 frames that were clearanced to $4. I had several Pinterest pins waiting to be created and displayed in my home, so I decided to use those for the 11x14 frames.

I measured my wall and in the basement, I laid out the frames, re-arranging until I decided what I liked the best.

Then I drew a sketch of what photos I wanted in each frames and used crayons to decide which frame needed to be what color. I am so glad I had this sketch, I referred to it often as I painted the frames and designed some of the images to go inside the frames.

Lastly, I spray painted all the frames in their colors and let them dry well. I used Sams Club to print the 11x14 prints and I bought dollar store frames to use the glass and the backing of the frame. I wanted to be able to easily switch out photos as we get new ones or my taste changes:) My dollar store even had the 11x14 frames with full glass panes in them for $1. I hung them all up with command strips so that my wall wasn't completely filled with nail holes and in case I decide to change the layout at some point. I hang almost everything now with command strips.

Here is the new wall!

I downloaded this from HERE

 I created this from the idea HERE

 

I created this from the idea HERE

It says: The Dates Our Lives Were Changed Forever

 

 Instead of creating something like this, I purchased it from HERE

It is so colorful and fun and everyone likes walking into the room and just staring at the photos:)

A Sweet Moment To Remember

Getting back to actually posting on our family blog is something I have been wanting to do all year. I guess I have been too busy living life rather than documenting it. One of the reasons I used to love blogging was to remember the sweet moments of raising my children. Yesterday one happened that I wanted to document.

I drove up to the school to pick the girls up early to take them to a doctor appointment. We were meeting our new pediatrician and they needed well checks, plus we had a few questions. Taking 4 kids anywhere at all usually proves to be a stressful experience. The doctors office seems to be even more so. Tiny rooms with only two chairs, hard floors and sick kid germs everywhere . . . 

Anyway, I planned ahead and left early as to prevent myself from rushing my kids and worrying about the time. However, the second I parked at the school, the van made a little bump bump and I knew we were almost out of gas. Our gauge has been acting funny, one moment it will say we have a full tank, the next empty and everywhere in between. So I really had no idea we were so close to being out of gas. I called Greg whose office is only about 10 minutes away or less, but of course he was at a meeting 1/2 hour away. I acted all casual and checked the girls out, got everyone buckled in the car and asked everyone to say a prayer that we could make it to a gas station safely. Did I mention it was raining?

The school sits at the top of a hill, so I coasted down the hill and had to wait at a stoplight, urging it to turn green before I ran out of gas. It finally did and I was able to turn safely and got into the right lane just in case. I got up to about 30 mph and then the car went dead. The road there is on the slightest slant. I knew that there was no way I was going to make it to the gas station up ahead, but decided to get as far as I could. I pulled onto the shoulder of the road and put my hazards on and coasted. Would you believe that there is a gas station on the corner across the street that I turn to take the girls to school every day and I have never noticed it before? I wouldn't have made it to the ones further ahead that I was planning on filling up at. The pumps were open for the brief moment long enough for me to pull into place. My power steering was dead, so it took some muscle to maneuver in, but we filled up and made it to our appointment ON TIME! The pure joy on the kids faces that our prayers had been answered was priceless. Blessings come in the most unexpected ways sometimes.